Landolfus Sagax or Landolfo Sagace (''sagax'' meaning "expert" or "scholar") was a Langobard historian who wrote a ''Historia Romana'' in the Beneventan Duchy (last quarter of the tenth century or beginning of the eleventh). When his ''Historia'' was first published by

Pierre Pithou Pierre Pithou (1 November 1539 – 1 November 1596) was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus. Life He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in 1569, due to its varied content and sources, Pithou gave it the title ''Historia Miscella''. The manuscript from the Palatine Library at Heidelberg (''Pal. lat.'' 909) preserved in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

is written in

Beneventan script The Beneventan script was a medieval script which originated in the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy. It was also called ''Langobarda'', ''Longobarda'', ''Longobardisca'' (signifying its origins in the territories ruled by the Lombards), or so ...

and shows evidence of having been committed to parchment under the supervision of Landulf himself. The ''Historia'', an expansion and extension of

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...

's eighth-century ''Historia Romana'', contains a list of

Byzantine emperors This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

until the then-living

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

and

Constantine VIII Constantine VIII Porphyrogenitus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Πορφυρογέννητος, ''Kōnstantinos Porphyrogénnetos''; 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was ''de jure'' Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the young ...

(d. 1028) and another of empresses from

Fausta Flavia Maxima Fausta ''Augusta'' (289–326 AD) was a Roman empress. She was the daughter of Maximian and second wife of Constantine the Great, who had her executed and excluded from all official accounts for unknown reasons. Historians Zosimu ...

to the wife of Michael IV. There are exhortations to a ''princeps'', perhaps implying that it was written at court, but which court is disputed. Some scholars, like Traube, have favoured

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and others, like Amedeo Crivellucci,Crivellucci, ''Landolfi Sagacis Historia Romana'' (Rome) 1912.

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

, where a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

was then reigning. Surviving manuscripts are littered with marginal notes, many of Landulf's authorship.

Notes

Sources

* Caravale, Mario (ed). ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: LXIII Labroca – Laterza''.

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sagax, Landolfus 11th-century Lombard people Italian chroniclers 11th-century Italian historians Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown 11th-century Latin writers